 Online edition of India's National Newspaper Monday, Jul 14, 2008 ePaper | Mobile/PDA Version |
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Tamil Nadu
Waiting time: The Coimbatore Airport terminal is not bustling with passengers as it used to be till recently. – It was not very long back, airports resembled railway stations – middleclass families thronged them, as the concept ‘Low cost-No frills’ ignited their fancies, forcing even Indian Railways to cut down on its fares across the board. Gone are the days when flying to Chennai from Coimbatore and back the same day was considered normal. Inflation unbriddled and rise in prices of essential commodities have had its impact on the vibrant aviation sector too. With the next three months being lean travel season and no let up seen in price of aviation turbine fuel, it is back-to-basement time for the birds.
The ‘Low cost – No frill’ concept forced the railways to bring down the fares closer to the fares of low cost airliners especially in the Coimbatore – Chennai, Coimbatore – Bangalore, Coimbatore – Mumbai – Delhi sectors. Coimbatore Airport that turned busy with as many as 24 to 27 landings and take offs every day and most of the flights accounted for 70 per cent to 90 per cent occupancy. But now, the aircraft movements had dwindled down to 21 to 24 a day because of the withdrawal of the Indian on the Chennai – Coimbatore – Kochi – Sharjah sector and withdrawal of two other private airline services on the Coimbatore – Chennai and Coimbatore – Hyderabad sectors. With people preferring to cut costs by using trains for their travel needs the marginal slump in passenger occupancy led to operation costs of airliners going up. The airline industry had to go in for a marginal upward revision of its passenger tariff by 10 per cent to 15 per cent. And for the middle class travellers it signalled departure time from airports. With the turbine fuel ruling at Rs. 73 a litre the industry is left with no other option but to increase fares. A major share of the tariff collected from passengers went in for Passenger Service Fee, fuel cost, fuel surcharge, holding tax and Indian Air Travel Tax. The remaining share of the tariff was the only earnings for airliners to take care of overheads, salaries, operational costs and so on. Airport Authority of India sources pointed out that with the holiday season concluding, the civil aviation sector normally witnesses a slump. This time inflation seem to have accelerated the pace or quantum of fall in load factor. At the national level, slump in passenger occupancy remained at 18 per cent while some of the airliners in Coimbatore reported a 13 per cent slump. At the national level, airliners are rescheduling their flights, redeploying fleet and clubbing services. Low cost operators are worst hit as their target passengers were the middleclass. Those offering business class service maintain that there is no shift in loyalty of their passengers. The only saving grace for airliners as far as Coimbatore Airport is concerned, is they never had reasons to complain about hitches in landing as it was in the case of other major airports. Instances of aircraft being asked to hover over the airport for want of a parking bay or runway occupancy were rare. With six parking bays available, aircraft never guzzled fuel because of having to wait either on the sky or on the runway or taxiway, says K. Hemalatha, Airport Director. With the proposed parallel taxiway and another three more parking bays, Coimbatore Airport will become more airlines-friendly, Station Manager of one of the airliners added. It is waiting time for airliners. Come August, travel industry will surely rev up marking the beginning of festival season, they say.
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